Lightning cracked across the darkened sky as if the heavens themselves trembled at what was coming.
The ancient pillars of the High Council's stronghold loomed like silent judges against the storm, their stone faces as unmoving as the fate Sienna had now accepted. The wind whipped through the air like a banshee, heralding her arrival. The shadows gathered around her feet, seeping into the cracks of the courtyard as if the ground were alive, reacting to the force that now inhabited her.
Sienna stood at the gate, her breath steady, her eyes sharp and wild. Her hair, now streaked with dark silver, danced with the wind as her cloak fluttered behind her like torn wings. The air crackled with a power that had been long forgotten. Power that had once been feared. Power they had tried to bury. Power that now burned in her veins like wildfire.
Her heart beat in silence. Not a single guard in sight. Not yet.
